A tale of Gold and Crimson
by TheJSFFenix
Summary: A story told from Kyoko Sakura perspective. When tragedy strikes and her home is left nothing but a smoldering ruin, she has to move in with another magical girl she met hours ago in rather unpleasant circumstances. What will come out of this? Slight AU, no spoilers or refferences from/to The Different Story, Rebellion or anything else than Main Series. M rating just to be safe.


**Part I- Nightmare**

My good eye snaps open again. I still haven't woke up. I can't sleep either so I lay on this couch, neither fully aware, nor dreaming.

Flames are blazing so brightly their glow reaches even here, through the windows of this apartment that I don't know. Their flashing orange dances and glitters in glass frames of the paintings hanging in front of me. Everything feels so unreal to me that the only thing I want now is to just wake up already, but it appears that no one will grant me this wish.

The church still burns and I can still hear his voice. Coming from beyond the grave, a wail of a man with all of his fragile delusions stolen from him. Delusions which he was feeding himself and his followers with, all gone. I hear him going through disbelief, sorrow, anger and finally resignation, like he really did give up on his life there and then. Like a worm crawling inside my ears. Maybe that's where that skull- splitting pain comes from.

I clench my remaining teeth, fighting the pain of my broken and exhausted body. I feel it regenerating itself, and every second of it hurts. Skin grows again on my badly burned hand, teeth grow, beaten down face regains its usual shape and swollen shut eye opens up slowly. Miracles and magic are real, although there is nothing wonderful or magical about this one.

Agony grows, and with my fever shots up once more. Unfamiliar room fades away, and I'm back in my house again, at my bedroom shared with my younger sister. I can clearly see him, or it. Catlike creature with snow white fur, perched just outside the window, watching me closely as his fox-like tail slowly wags right to left, and back again. It can speak in a human voice, although apparently only I can hear it, not even mine sis and her hyperactive imagination. She never saw him either, despite his gaze which rested on her more than a few times.

-Con… tract?- I ask him weakly- No, no I don't want it! No!- I scream at the top of my lungs, as my breath grows shorter and more panicked. I feel like I'm suffocating, which is strange since for my entire life I've never been asthmatic. Yet I feel like my chest wants to burst and I cannot draw a single wheeze.

Suddenly someone grabs my uninjured hand and I feel blissful coolness on my flaming forehead. Whoever is with me right now, it calms me down. I resume my breathing slowly and close my eye, gripping the hand of the stranger tightly. Then I finally drop off and it all stops hurting.

It feels like hardly a second, a brief flash, and I open up my eyes again. It's morning again, at least I think so, judging by bright room and sounds coming from outside windows. Despite my face and hand being like new, I still don't feel well at all. My memories from the previous day are hazy at best and there isn't a single muscle in my body that doesn't ache right now. 

I sit up, and take a look around. It is morning after all, but rather unusually gloomy for a middle of a summer.

-Wow…- That's all I can say, seeing how large the room is. To my left are large and polished windows overlooking the city below. That must be one of the highest, if not _the_ highest floor. Rest of the room my right is crammed with all kinds of things, but in surprisingly… tidy way? An exquisite Persian carpet, big sitting pillows coming in every color, TV set, radio, armchairs, modern shelves holding antiques of the bygone times, old painting of the lonely cabin in the snowy mountains next to the modern art abstract paintings… Uhh, I feel dizzy just from the sheer amount of everything here.

On the glass table next to my couch stands my magical gem. It's kinda murky on the inside, but that's not important right now. At least not as important as finding out where I am, how did I end up here and whose flat it is?

The noises made by the shower unexpectedly come to a halt, even though I haven't picked them up from the background until just now. After a brief moment the door handle twitches and the first answer enters the living room. It's a girl of my age and also of a medium height, dressed in bathrobe. She fixes her blonde hair of shoulder length when she spots me. For a short moment she seems surprised, but a second later she already smiles to me.

-You are finally up!- She says- Would you mind giving me a moment?- Asks me with a royal courtesy to which I just nod my head without a word.

She disappears into another room, whence she emerges carrying a plate with a cup of tea and chocolate cookies, moving like her house was a court and she was a lady, housewife and a maid all at the same time. I barely know that girl is, yet there is something about her that doesn't trip any alarms inside my head as she comes closer and lays the tray on the table. I would say that she emanates a strange aura of sorts just like… no, that'd be impossible, to have so many of us in one city? It's a large city I'd give it that, but still… 

-I hope you like the European tea- I hear, as I reach for the cup, trying to quench my thirst.

-Thanks. I don't mind- I finally muster a reply, not trying to look rude or ungrateful.

-I'm Mami Tomoe, by the way- The girl introduces herself to me, bowing as much as her clothing currently allows her

-Kyoko Sakura. Nice to meet you too.

-May I?- She points to the sofa.

-Sure- I reply and Mami sits down close to me.

-Do you remember me from yesterday?- Asks me after a brief silence.

-Sorry, I seem to be drawing a blank about yesterday…- And truly I can't remember a thing, no matter how hard I try. Like in some sort of a weird amnesia trick, I know who I am, what my name is and where I live, such things. But whenever I think about yesterday, the best thing I can come up with is the image of my house doors wide open… and then here I woke up in some girl apartment…

-I found you about two blocks down from here. You really did not look too good then- She says in concerned tone, clearly sounding like an understatement. Then I saw that you dropped your gem- Points the trinket standing near the table- So I took you to my place, in order to give you some time to heal. Good to see that you got better.

I gave her a surprised look. How does she know about the gem, about… anything really?

-Ah yes, that…- She chuckles lightly at her own little oversight and lifts up a hand to show me her ring with signature runes- I'm a magical girl too, just like you. I would have never had the heart to turn my back on you when you need it.

Whatever awkwardness there was between us is now gone. I take another sip and taking my first shot at those cookies, feeling the chocolate melting. Mmm, I love chocolate, just as much as apples. Especially when I don't have to pay for them. And when I don't have to pay for them _and_ they come in pairs…

-I know that you might not remember this- Then she suddenly comes back to the topic- but yesterday there was a horrible fire in that church just outside the city limits…- She mentions, and the sound of those words makes me freeze in shock.

The cup smashes on the floor, spilling the remainders of the tasty tea. I stand up and walk over to the windows like I was in some kind of trance, my legs shaking like crazy. Far away from here I can see the pitch black smoke still rising. All of the sudden, everything comes back to me, like someone flipped the right switch in my head. In less than a second I can remember every single thing, detail by detail. The smell of gasoline, the smoke, suffocating and stinging at my eyes. Holding onto the last hope that it's all only one clever dream, a nightmare that must come to pass, I look at my right hand. Burns disappeared, faded, but the rope burn remains. My light green hoodie is smeared with dried up blood… It's not a dream, not even a nightmare by this point. It is real, no matter how many times I'll open my eyes.

World starts swirling, like one of those super fast carrousels at the fairground and the floor seems to escape from under my feet like on ice rink without a skates

-Is everything okay?- Mami also shots up and stands right by me.

-No… nothing is okay…- I reply- Nothing is okay... Nothing is okay…- I repeat myself again and again, when the knowledge of what had really happened slowly sinks into me. What I have done, what I had to do just to live- My family… they are gone… they are all really gone…

I slide down to my knees, not able to pretend like I'm strong anymore. I want to cry, but I have no tears left to shed. They ran out inside that church, even before it had burned to the ground.

-I'm sure it's going to turn all right…- Mami also crouches near me. She tries to comfort me, but I can hear it in her voice too, even if she doesn't show it.

-Nothing is going to be _alright_!- I slam my fist on the floor, my voice completely cracking- What is it here that you don't understand? What can be _alright_ _now?!-_ A loud thud and a cacophony of sounds follows my every word, as items rattle and jump up on the shelves. My hand hurts, but right now I would be more worried about the floor itself. Turns out however, after a few seconds that it's me who must fold, grabbing my knuckles and howling like a wolf without his pack. I'm all alone now.

Mami approaches me again as I begin calming down and she hugs me. She doesn't say a thing. She just holds me tightly, like I was about to melt down or fall apart in a second. It just feels… good, for a change. For a moment I forget that it's all _my_ fault. That it's because of the mistakes _I_ made, and I don't even have a place I could call _home_ now. I wish I could forget about this for just a little bit longer. Forever… But it's only a short while until I come back to the world that suddenly got a lot more bleaker and emptier, without any hope, if there was such a thing there before.

-Come on- She whispers into my ear- We need to do something about this dirty clothes and that murky gem of yours…


End file.
